yaaris/ideas.adoc

= Ideas

== MANIFESTO

* Quick, easy, simple.
* Fun, laughter, satire, irreverent.

=== THINGS WE WANT
* Fun, laughter, humor, satire, informal rules.
* Fast & easy to get into.
* Fast & smooth gameplay (not too much math, not many exceptions).
* Should feel a bit like a good, but very immersive, board game.
* Combat that is FUN, no matter the outcome.
* Teamwork, problem solving, resource anxiety.


=== THINGS WE DON'T WANT
* Arguing over technicalities.
* Spending game time looking at the rules.
* Internal strife or competition to be best or mow down the most monsters.
* Power gaming and min/maxing.
* People getting bored during combat.
* Undetectable, unperceivable, or unstoppable events that kill adventurers
  without player input or agency.

=== UNIMPORTANT
* "Good" roleplay.
* Balance. Not all characters should be equally "good" on the battlefield.


== IDEAS

=== Adventurer's Blessing
* All Adventurers have The Adventurer's Blessing.
* They have a different eye color.
* They have access to racial perks (ancient blood that awakens as they gain levels).
* They don't get PTSD or any other mundane mental illnesses, get common colds
  and other mundane diseases, they have very high pain tolerance, and they are
  generally awesome.
* Their gift can burn out if they do evil stuff such as:
** Kill for fun or sadism, or killing the truly innocent, such as kids (100%
   burnout).
** Kill beings that aren't monsters or villains (high risk of burnout).
** Harm beings that aren't monsters or villains (moderate risk of burnout).
** Steal from or swindle beings that aren't monsters or villains (low risk of
   burnout).
** Stop actively adventuring (burnout risk increases over time).
** Become parents (100%)
** All these risks are cumulative.


=== MAX (for d20 system) and 80 (for d100 system)

No matter how skilled you are, your target number can’t be higher than a
certain limit Any roll above that limit is an automatic failure.

However, your skill level itself isn't capped. This matters when you score a
critical hit. For example, if your attack skill is 22, you'll still fail on
rolls of 16 to 20—but if you roll a 15 (a critical hit), your damage will be
22.

=== ATTACK & DAMAGE

Attacks always deal at least a bit of damage.

* Glancing Blow (rolled above your TN) - deals damage equal to your weapon's Base
  Damage, and no special effects can apply to the attack.
* Hit (rolled below your TN) Deals damage based on your roll plus the weapon's Base Damage. 
** Hits MAY trigger ONE Hit Effect.
*** Some weapons have Hit Effects.
*** Most Hit Effects cost a number of Hit Points to trigger.
*** Many Hit Effects require that the attacker be of a certain level.
*** Only one Hit Effect may be triggered per Hit.
* Crit (roll equal to your TN) Deals damage equal to TWICE your SKILL LEVEL
  plus weapon's Base Damage.
** Crits MAY trigger ANY available Hit Effects
*** The player chooses which Hit Effects to trigger.
*** Level Requirements are ignored (I think)
*** They will not drain any Hit Points.

** When it comes to Hit Effects, Crits count as Hits, except for the fact that 
certain classes/abilities have Crit Effects that only triggers when you Crit. 
** Usually only one Effect applies - and the player gets to choose.

Monster Crits:: Boss Monsters (and certain Skirmisher monsters) can crit too -
and they have random Crit Effects - each Crit-Capable monster has its own Crit
Table of nasty effects that can be triggered on a Crit.


=== MAGIC && SPELLS

You use Wands to cast Spells.

You roll your Magic skill.

* Each spell should take up one page.
* Each spell should have a description of what happens when you succeed,
  fizzle, and crit. Also, each WAND (not spell) should have a quality rating,
  indicating the max target number available. Here are some PARTIAL EXAMPLES:
** Fizzle (roll above TN) - the spell fizzles, but you may try again next
   round.
** Success (rolled below TN) - the spell takes effect -look up the effect in
   the spell's description. Each spell has a table where you can look up the
   effect, based on what you rolled. The wand is usually drained after
   successfully casting a spell.
** Crit (roll equal TN) - The spell takes effect, but you get to choose the
   effect; you may choose any effect tier up to, and including, one tier higher
   than what your roll would normally grant. The wand is usually NOT drained
   after a Crit.


==== SPELLS

Fireballs::
Causes insane pain in the testicles of the target. Can only target testicle-havers.
Higher effect tiers actually set fire to the balls.

Revive Adventurer::
* Only adventurers can be resurrected.
* They can be resurrected within 1 day of their death per adventurer level.
* When using a wand to resurrect an adventurer, you must always roll higher
  than their level.
* There is a high chance that the wand can never be used again.
* There is a small risk that the adventurer will be turned into an intelligent
  undead of a type that is determined by their stats, level, and some
  randomness (they will typically rise as a revenant, but death knight,
  vampire, and lich are also in play).
* There is a risk that the adventurer will gain some otherworldly traits that
  have followed them from the other world. These traits can be demonic,
  angelic, necromantic, sylvan, elemental, etc.


=== DEFENSE AND ARMOR

==== ARMOR
When an adventurer dons armor, their max HP and current HP increases by a value
that depends on the value. When they doff the armor, their max- and current HP
is lowered by the same amount.

[WARNING]
You can die (or at least reach Zero Hit Points) if you doff armor while close
to death.


==== ITEM SLOTS
Adventurers begin play with 4d4 Item Slots. Item Slots are used to carry stuff,
and they also  grant you Hit Points.

* Normal Items take up a single Item Slot.
* Large Items - like armors - take up more than one Item Slot.
* Small Items - like gold and gems - take up so little space that you can can
  squeeze a number of them into one Item Slot.
* If you have unused Item Slots, you get extra Hit Points. You get one HP per
  unused slot, multiplied by your level. For instance, a level 3 character with
  4 unused Item Slots gets 3*4=12 extra Hit Points.

[WARNING]
You can die (or at least reach Zero Hit Points) if you are low on Hit Points
and pick up heavy stuff.

=== DIFFICULTY (advantage/disadvantage)
Works just like DnD and all the others.


=== SKILLS (THERE ARE NO ATTRIBUTES)

These are the base skills that all adventurers have to begin with, and as the
character progresses, they can attain new skills that can allow them to do more
and fancy stuff.

[%header,cols="3,9"]
|===
| Basic Skills          | Description
//----------------------|------------------------------------------------------
| Melee Attack          | Attacks against baddies in melee range.
| Ranged Attack         | Attacks against baddies outside melee range.
| Magic                 | Using wands to cast spells.
// | Skulduggery           | Stealth & stuff.
// | Knowledge             | History, geography, lore.
// | Grit                  | Toughness, raw strength, willpower.
// | Awareness             | Perception, comprehension, alertness, insight.
//----------------------|------------------------------------------------------
|===



==== Skill Burning

D20 Version::
You can burn one of your skills (permanently reducing its score by 1) before
you roll, and you can force the die roll to become whatever you want. If your
skill score is currently 13, you can burn one point, reducing it to  12,
but then you have the power to force the d20 to become whatever you want (in
this case a 12 would usually be the best option).

You can also do this retroactively, after you've rolled, but you must burn
three skill points.

D100 Version::
Burn 5 skill points before you roll to force a roll to become whatever you want.
Burn 5 skill points after you've rolled to make a reroll. 10 skill points on your
next reroll, 15 on the next, and so on.
Burn 2 skill points before you roll to gain advantage.


=== ADVANCEMENT
Advancement incentivise fast and dangerous fun.
We want fun, fast, and toe-curlingly dangerous dungeon crawls.
We want lots silly and "active" downtime (i.e. all the players do fun stuff).

Fast-Paced Dungeon Crawls::
We award fast-paced dungeon crawls, so
* Each monster "defeated" (killed, pacified, or routed) gives XP.
* Each encounter has a "bonus time" — if you defeat the encounter within that
  time, you get bonus XP.
** Each monster has a "bonus time" attribute - typically a number of minutes.
** An encounter's "bonus time" is calculated by adding up all "bonus time"
   attributes.

Fast-Paced Almost-Always-Successful Environmental Encounters::
The PCs gain experience for _cleverly_ or _luckily_ overcoming environmental
challenges such as traps, cliffs, pits, and puzzles.

All challenges should be solvable or even have an obvious/naive brute force
solution - but using the naive solution does not grant XP - you gain XP by
daring and by being clever.

* If the PCs scale a wall by being clever (using their brains) or daring
  (successful skill rolls), they gain XP. But even if they aren't clever or
  lucky, the GM should consider letting them scale the wall anyway, simply by
  brute forcing the problem.
* If the PCs cleverly disable or daringly circumvent a trap, they should get XP
  - but the PCs could brute force the problem, but not gaining XP. **On that
  note** - most traps
  should be visible - invisible traps that deals automatic damage are not fun.
* If the PCs open a door by picking a lock, social engineering, or otherwise
  being clever, they gain XP. But if they simply bash it to pieces, they don't
  get XP.

Fun and Silly Downtime::
* PCs get lots XP for carousing. Especially if they get up to mischief - but
  only if they do so as a party, and not individuals.
** Gambling is an option
** Prize fighting is an option.
* PCs should only level up during downtime.
* PCs can gain a bit of XP if they donate money to charity or invest in a
  house, fortress, etc.

Ad hoc Progress::
* (d100) Maybe 1 XP could be converted directly into a +1 in a skill. Or maybe
  it'll cost [current value / 10 rounded down] XP to increment a skill.
* (d20) Maybe it'll cost [current value] XP to increment a skill.



=== PERKS/ABILITIES/STUFF

Monstrous Gourmand:: If a dead monster has fresh meat on it, you can probably
eat it without issue. You can spend 1 hour preparing the meat, then you have 1
daily ration of food. Large monsters can yield more than one ration. Be aware
that only you can eat those rations safely - normal people could get sick from
eating monster meat.

Dwarf (level 1):: You have one extra item slot (maybe for a later dwarf perk).
You have a lot of facial hair, no matter what gender you are. Your tolerance
for alcohol is quite high.

Assassinate (d100):: Works better for the d100 version of this game. Instead of
rolling "attack", you roll Skulduggery. If you hit, you deal the same amount of
damage as what you rolled on your d100, but if you fail, you miss completely,
dealing no damage, and no special effect. *NOTE:* Assassination should have its
own type of special effect, if any at all.
== Stats
* Skills - not attributes
* Item Slots
* Hit Points
* Level
* Dodge/Defense Points ???

== Attack (Ideas)

=== D20 Always Damage, Sometimes Effect

----
LET roll = [roll d20]

// Crit
IF roll == [Skill Level] THEN
    damage = [weapon base damage] * 2 + roll
    effect = [weapon's special effect, if available]

// Success
ELSE IF roll < [Skill Level] THEN
    damage = [weapon base damage] + roll
    effect = [weapon's special effect, if available]

// Minimal Success
ELSE
    damage = [weapon base damage]
    effect = none
----

=== D100 Always Damage, Sometimes Effect

When you attack, roll a d100 and use the relevant skill (Melee Attack or Ranged Attack) as the
Target Number.

*Hits* happen when you roll _lower_ than your Target Number. Hits deal damage
equal to your weapon's Base Damage plus the __digit sum__ of your roll (9 if
you rolled 18 and 15 if you rolled 69).

*Glancing Blows* happen when you roll _higher_ than your Target Number. In this
case you deal damage equal to your weapon's Base Damage plus the _lowest digit_
of your roll (2 if you rolled 72 or 0 if you rolled 90). Glancing blows usually
only deal damage and don't have any fancy side effects.

*Critical Hits* happen when your roll is exactly the same as your Target Number.
Critical Hits deal damage equal to your weapon's Base Damage plus the number
you rolled.


=== Dual Wielding

Dual weapons should be a Package-thing.
If using two weapons, you use your best weapon first. 

a. If you failed your roll, (but didn't roll a 20???) you get to make an attack
  with your off hand weapon.
b. You can spend HP to attack (once per round) with your off-hand weapon.

==== Sword & Board

If using sword'n'board, you make an attack with your main weapon first, if you roll at/under
your TN and under your damage cap you 
* Make a shield bash???
* Regain some Hit Points??

=== Resistance

We should have a skill that allows us to resist AoE effects such as sleep or
fireball. Even though the caster has already rolled to cast the spell, targets
of AoE or certain effects should have a chance to avoid or reduce the effects
(unless the casting was so powerful that the target does not get a roll).



=== Exhaustion

Maybe exhaustion takes up time slots. If you become overburdened, you take
penalties.

=== Consumables

Torches:: 
2 per Item Slot. Lasts 69 real life minutes.

Rations::
3 per Item Slot. Lasts an entire day, and includes both food and water.

Money::
50 Coins per Item Slot.

Gems::
2 Gems per Item Slot. (Gems scratch each other if not packed correctly).


=== Monsters & Combat

Many monsters (the majority) should have special abilities that make combat
more interesting.

* Set the adventurer on fire that must be put out.
* Push the adventurer away, possibly knocking them on their ass.
* Spray itching powder that must be dealt with.
* Making an area of the battlefield uninhabitable with fire, webs, etc.
* Temporarily able to fly or jump stupid high, possibly spending their next
  turn up in the air.
* Fart so badly that the adventurer MUST run away on their next turn.
* Hover.
* Cause adventurer to hover (or become weightless), making them unable to move,
  and making them very queasy.
* Randomly interrupt combat, even when it's not their turn.
* Make opportunity attacks.
* Randomly heal an adventurer because they can't really control their magic.


=== Gooblin
Slimy goblin


== PLACES

=== Ballrocks Gates